This week on the SyrupCast, Rose Behar and Igor Bonifacic are joined by Christine Dobby, telecom reporter at the Globe and Mail, andDaniel Bader, managing editor at Android Central, to take a look back the major Canadian telecom developments of 2017, with a focus on Freedom Mobile.

A lot has changed over the course of 2017 in terms of Canada's telecom ecosystem. One of the most significant shifts in the space involves Canadian carrier unlocking fees being stopped by the CRTC. Freedom Mobile also underwent significant changes this year, with the carrier rebranding from Wind Mobile to Freedom Mobile, following Shaw's acquisition of the company back in 2015.

With the CRTC unlocking fee ban recently going into effect, Freedom jumped at the opportunity to acquire new customers from the larger competitors in the Canadian telecom space. Freedom introduced a new, highly competitive plan that offered 10GB of data for $50, and in an unprecedented move, other major carriers and flanker brands responded with similar offers. The ensuing deal madness saw Canadians trying to take advantage of the offers being stuck in long lineups and customer service reps being overwhelmed with calls.

Do you have questions, comments, thoughts, or anything you would like addressed on the podcast? Send us an email to podcast@mobilesyrup.com. If you're feeling extra adventurous, send us a voice recording of your question or comment and you may end up featured in a future episode!

Rose, back at the MobileSyrup office fresh from her trip to the Snapdragon Technology Summit in Hawaii, gives the team a run down of all Qualcomm's major announcements from the event. The smartphone hardware manufacturer's new Snapdragon 845 mobile processor is set to include new features, including camera and AI improvements.

The team also takes a look at some recently submitted listener questions. Will Freedom Mobile market the fact that all devices in Canada are unlocked? Is the Note 8 better than the iPhone X.? Listen to find out.

Do you have questions, comments, thoughts, or anything you would like addressed on the podcast? Send us an email to podcast@mobilesyrup.com. If you're feeling extra adventurous, send us a voice recording of your question or comment and you may end up featured in a future episode!

Sameer discusses recent political developments in the U.S. in his shoutout. Patrick throws a shoutout to Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG)glitchy, but still fun Xbox One version. Finally, this week Rose shouts out Commisioner Mignon Clyburn and her speech about Net Neutrality.

This week on the SyrupCast, Igor Bonifacic, Patrick O'Rourke, Dean Daley, and Brad Shankar discuss their favourite games released over the course of 2017. As the year is winding down, the team felt it would be appropriate to reflect on their favourite games of 2017.

Do you have questions, comments, thoughts, or anything you would like addressed on the podcast? Send us an email to podcast@mobilesyrup.com. If you're feeling extra adventurous, send us a voice recording of your question or comment and you may end up featured in a future episode!

It's now December 1st and this means that in Canada, carriers are no longer able to charge a fee to unlock customer's phones. The CRTC ruling to ban unlocking fees was initial revealed back in June, but the actual start date wasn't immediate.

Now, however, carriers are required to assist customers when it comes to unlocking their phones, free of charge; regardless of whether the phone is newly purchased, or if it's a device you've had for years.

Do you have questions, comments, thoughts, or anything you would like addressed on the podcast? Send us an email to podcast@mobilesyrup.com. If you're feeling extra adventurous, send us a voice recording of your question or comment and you may end up featured in a future episode!